Ragin gently rubbed an encouraging hand along the side of Akaysha's neck. He could feel her exhaustion through their bond. Her laboured breaths appeared as mist in front of them, thanks to the cold frigid air. Her wing beats were slow as she took herself to gliding as much as possible, flying at rather slow pace compared to her surrounding companions.

They had been in the air for over a week now, and every morning Ragin found himself waking up with sorer and stiffer legs then the day before, unused to spending so much time on dragon back. But Akaysha was fairing far worse. She had never flown for so long and so far before, and while keeping pace for the first couple of days had been a rather simple task, by the seventh she could barely force herself into the sky. Ragin tried to help by lending her his own energy and soothing her aching wings with healing spells, but he could only do so much.

The other dragons were having no such trouble, being used to these long flights with their riders. The only dragon that was having just a small amount of fatigue during the journey was Freya's orange dragon, whose name was Haraytor. But he was the same age as Akaysha, and had obviously done long trips before. The longest Akaysha had ever flown was a couple of hours during the day. Now she was being forced to wake early in the morning and fly with nearly no brakes until the sun began to set.

They were passing along the border of Du Weldenvarden, the great forest along the edge of Alageasia and housed most of the country's elves. It was a beautiful place, or at least that was what Ragin had heard. He hadn't personally been to the forests, considering it was a far more difficult place to steal and rob from when nearly everyone could use magic and most were stronger and faster than you were.

He turned his attention from the forest and back to his dragon. There was a small headwind that day, making it all the more difficult for her to push herself onwards. Ragin was worried. He could tell that she didn't want to make herself seem weak in front of the other dragons by stopping before their afternoon break. Her magic would have made things a little easier, but she had refused to call upon that power again, still a little traumatised from what had happened during their capture. She didn't know which spells were safe or not.

Occasionally Ragin had caught her casting small spells during their breaks, spells that seemingly did nothing or very little, like growing small plants or warping the air in front of her in slight ways. From what he had seen in her mind she just wanted to try and work her way back up to her confidence in her ability before, starting off small and growing from there.

'Akaysha, you need to rest,' Ragin spoke into his dragon's exhausted mind as she dipped slightly in the air.

'No... I can keep going a little longer,' she replied, levelling herself out and pulling her wings forward in a flap.

'You will only hurt yourself if you keep going. Besides, at the rate you're pushing yourself it's like you want to get to the dragon riders,' he chuckled softly.

The dragoness snorted, a trickle of smoke running from her nose, but he felt her agreeing with him, albeit reluctantly. Patting her one last time he turned toward one of the other dragon and rider pairs. It was Eon, and his female blue dragoness Reyal. He waved to get their attention. One of the oaths he had sworn prevented him from reaching out with his mind to any of their conscious, so he was unable to contact them mentally. He understood why they did this, as it prevented him from attempting to gain any information from them that they wanted to remain hidden, but it was frustrating, especially in situations like this.

Eon noticed him and Ragin felt the man's mind brush against his own. The thief opened some of his barriers, allowing the other rider access to talk mentally, but to nothing else.

'What is it?' Eon asked, seeming a little tired himself.

'Akaysha is exhausted, and she needs to rest. She is unused to flying such long distances and I fear that her body may not be able to handle the strain for much longer.'

Ragin felt the rider thinking in the back of his mind, before he replied, 'Very well. I will alert Arya.'

Rayel banked away from the two and sped up a little, catching up to Firnen who was flying up front. After a small conversation between the two of them the large green dragon banked to the left, winging his way down toward a rather flat area atop a green hill surrounded in smaller trees that dwindled into a small plain that stretched for a number of kilometres, separating the desert from the trees.

Akaysha landed rather heavily on the ground, her wings drooping to her sides. A strange mixture of embarrassment and relief flowed through her. Ragin smiled and lightly rubbed her neck again before sliding from her back. He stretched his stiff legs, a little sore from being in the saddle for so long. The other riders dismounted as well.

Arya walked over to them, "How are you feeling Akaysha?"

'I'm fine. I... I just need to rest my wings for a little while,' the dragoness replied, talking directly too the elf this time.

"We are sorry for pushing you so hard," the elf said, sending a slightly condescending glance in Ragin's direction, "We forget you have not had the same training and experience as the others."

The thief narrowed his eyes at the comment, but didn't respond. He was getting used to these subtle attacks. While the other riders showed the utmost respect for Akaysha, there was always an undertone of distaste and resentment whenever they spoke to him, some more then others. Freya wasn't so bad, she was the only one that openly expressed her hostility, and Zayphoz, the kull, while he didn't like Ragin, at least he showed him a high degree of respect. Arya's hostility wasn't born out of direct hatred he suspected, but more out of the fact that she thought he could have done a much better job at looking after Akaysha if he had brought her straight to the riders when she hatched. His ignorance in how to properly care for and raise a dragon had been largely obvious over the past week, as he had already learned numerous things that he had done wrong over the past five months. Akaysha had assured him he had done as well as he could, but he knew that wasn't quite true.

The other two were the worst though. Their hate had nothing to do with his raising of Akaysha at all, but rather his involvement the Black Hand. He had suspected this, or course. The rivalry between the two factions had been one born of death and deceit. While Ragin himself had never killed a dragon rider, the Black Hand had been responsible for numerous deaths of both dragons and their riders during the war. He didn't doubt that these two riders knew and were even close to people who had been killed by the Black Hand. Of course, he shared the hostility, considering that they had likely shared in the butchering of his own friends in amongst the Black Hand. People he sorely missed.

The group set up a small camp on the top of the hill. They collected firewood from the surrounding forest and set out bedrolls near where their dragons slept. One advantage of being a dragon rider was you never needed a tent. Once they were all set up Ragin had Akaysha stretch out a wing and he began murmuring soothing and numbing spells over it to help with her pain.

He didn't bother healing it outright. He wasn't skilled enough in magic to be able to heal the muscles in such a way that allowed them to grow stronger and sturdier as when they did when healed naturally, and while Akaysha would still be hurting a little the following day, she would be grateful for it later. Instead he just made sure to sooth her sore wings and shoulders, messaging and loosening knots of tight muscle and sending her into a state of relaxation. He knew enough about dragon anatomy to know where the best points to focus were, and with magic it made the process much easier.

"Where did you learn to use magic?" he was startled by a question and turned to see Freya standing by Akaysha's snout.

He didn't stop his work, but replied, "Why the sudden interest?"

She shrugged, "Haraytor came up with the rather good point that we are likely going to be spending a lot of time together when we reach New Doru Araeba, so we may as well get to know one another."

"I thought you hated me," he responded, pushing at a rather tight knot of muscle just below Akaysha's wing, causing the dragoness to grunt slightly.

"I do, but at the same time, I barely know you, so I can't really make the decision until I do," she sighed.

"So basically, what you are saying is, you want to get to know me so you have a reason to hate me rather than no reason to hate me," he smirked at her frustrated face.

"That is not what I meant!" she exclaimed, then she saw his grin, "You know, at the moment you are not giving a good impression."

'She's got a good point,' Akaysha said, 'It would be helpful if you did start to at least try to make friends. Get to know her a bit.'

'I do know her. She just doesn't know that,' Ragin replied to his dragon.

Akaysha snorted rather doubtfully, but didn't reply.

Ragin sighed before turning back to Freya, "It seems our dragons agree on something."

"Well at least they're intelligent."

"Yes," Ragin chuckled softly.

"So, where did you learn magic?" Freya asked after a short pause.

"I thought that was rather obvious," he replied, moving from Akaysha's back and resting at her side, "The Black Hand taught me most of what I know."

"No, I mean who taught you," she asked.

He hesitated for a moment, "That is one thing I cannot reveal."

She grunted, "You keep a lot of secrets."

"I have to," he responded, "Keeping secrets is a good way to stay alive."

"It's not a good way to live though. All that secrets do in the end is hurt people."

"Or they could save them."

The two of them fell silent. He could feel a questioning thought from Akaysha forming, but she kept herself silent.

"What was it like living in the Black Hand?" she asked suddenly, "Surely you can tell me that."

Ragin cracked a smile, "It was hard work. I was six when I began learning how to wield a sword and a bow, and eight when I first discovered magic. My mentor was one of the best swordsmen alive, and was more than adept in magic as well. When we sparred he didn't go easy on me, and I was thrown to the ground a lot, sometimes with life threatening injuries. But he would just heal me up and we would start again. With magic he pushed me to the limit every single day, making me stronger, teaching me knew things. I often went to bed light headed and exhausted, only to start again the next day. He was careful though. He only pushed me as far as my body could possibly handle, then allowed me a break, before starting it up again."

"Sounds like a hard life for a kid."

"It was. But through it I became a match for any swordsman and magic user who is older and more experienced then me, as you could probably see."

She grunted, "Apparently you guys got taught all sorts of forbidden spells and magic."

"Forbidden? That depends on who you ask. Yes, we got taught many dangerous spells and magic but only fools would make them forbidden."

"Did you ever use these spells?"

"Of course. Multiple times."

"What kind of spells?"

Ragin chuckled softly, "Considering you've only just begun lifting pebbles, I do not think you should be searching out these 'forbidden' magics quite yet. I may teach you later, when you grow more competent in your abilities, but at the moment, well, I would suggest sticking as far away from them as possible."

She sighed softly, "Is it a another secret?'

"No, this is safety. The dangers of magic were drilled constantly into my head during my training. Once you've mastered the basics of spell casting, maybe then I could reveal some more advanced techniques that I doubt your rider mentors will bother to teach you."

"Very well, I could live with that."

"Alright, I have a question for you. Why all this interest in the Black Hand?" Ragin already suspected the reason, but he wanted to hear it from her.

She looked him right in the eye, a bit of that malice and hate coming back into her tone, "The Black Hand killed my parents. I want to get an idea of what goes on in the life of someone who would do that."

"We weren't simple killers Freya. We picked or targets carefully. People who threatened the structure of society. People that the riders couldn't deal with without becoming hated or feared. We did what they couldn't."

"So are you saying my parents were some of those people ha?" she said, her anger evident in her voice.

"They may have been," Ragin replied as passively as he could, "But the Black Hand wasn't perfect. There were those that acted for themselves and didn't... follow the proper way. It could have easily been one of them. But why do you care? The Black Hand was wiped out five years ago. The person that killed your parents was likely killed in the massacre the dragon riders caused."

She grunted, "I'll believe that when I find out exactly who did so, and see their body at my feet. I assume you don't know who did it then."

He shrugged, "I didn't keep tabs on every mission my organisation went on. I had only just become a full member when we were destroyed, so I didn't know much."

Freya let out a frustrated sigh, before seeming to except what he said, "Alright then. I'll talk to you later. I've got some things I need to practice tonight."

"Very well, goodnight."

Ragin watched as the red head girl walked away seemingly deep in thought. He sighed, and lay his head on Akaysha's flank, listening to her breathing in an out. He glanced at her one questioning eye who was looking intensely at him, as if trying to stare into his very soul. It was a little unnerving.

'You know, if you want to ask a question, just ask. You don't have to look at me like that,' he said to his dragon.

She snorted, 'Despite the fact we are intimately connected, I find you very difficult to understand sometimes.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

Akaysha shuffled her wings but refused to answer the question, and when Ragin tried to steal the answer from her mind she blocked him. With a frustrated sigh he lay back once again, staring into the fire, and he couldn't help but wonder if his dragon knew more than she was letting on.

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Hey guys! New chapter! I hope you enjoyed. Vote if you did and comment what you thought. I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible. 

Oh, and for those of you that read 'The Silver Trilogy', I am planning on having the fully edited version of The Silver Dragon published and ready for purchase in both hardcopy and ebook by the end of the month. I'll post more updates as it gets closer.

See Ya!

Pennator^^